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Saturday, April 13, 2013

It appears Ilya Kovalchuk won't be ready to make his return from his right shoulder injury in Monday's game in Toronto.

Although Devils coach Pete DeBoer said Kovalchuk remains "day to day" and wouldn't speculate on his availability for Monday, Kovalchuk said he thinks he needs "a few more days" for his shoulder to recover.

Kovalchuk said he feels “pretty good.”

“But still I think I need a few more days just to get the strength back in the hand and in the shoulder," he said.

When I asked him if there was any chance of him flying to Toronto with the team for Monday's game, Kovalchuk replied, "I don't think so."

"It doesn't make too much sense," Kovalchuk said. "I know our backs are against the wall, but we've got to be realistic and smart here. I want to be out there as (much) as anyone of us in the locker room, but when you go out there you want to produce and you want to help your team, not to get it worse for your team. I think the guys played really well last night. They got a great couple of chances. We just have to stick to it."

Kovalchuk already has missed nine games since injuring his shoulder in a 2-1 win over Florida three weeks ago. The Devils have not won since then (0-5-4) to fall from seventh place in the Eastern Conference to four points out of a playoff spot with only seven games remaining.

Kovalchuk is as frustrated to not be able to help his teammates during this time as they are frustrated to not be able to win without him.

“It’s really tough,” Kovalchuk said “You sit watching and just every bounce it seems like it’s in our net against us. Last year, we were fortunate in some of those overtimes maybe in the playoffs. This year, it goes the other way, but we’re a bunch of men here and we’re going to just work as hard as we can and try to get as many points as we can.”

Kovalchuk practiced again with the team today and worked on the left point with the first power-play unit, but limited himself to just wrist shots -- one of which hit Travis Zajac high on the chest -- and did not take slap shots or one-timers.

"One-timer is not an option," he said.

Kovalchuk said Thursday that he still had some "discomfort" when attempting one-timers.

DeBoer admitted that Kovalchuk isn’t able to do everything yet.

“But he’s getting closer,” DeBoer said.

DeBoer wasn’t willing to speculate on whether Kovalchuk would be an option for Monday, saying, “These type of things really change every morning when you walk into the rink on how a guy’s feeling. So, we’re just going to get through today, get him up tomorrow. We’ve got the benefit of another day tomorrow and cross our fingers.”

***DeBoer said defenseman Bryce Salvador’s bruised right wrist is “still pretty sore” after he was hit with a Zdeno Chara slap shot in Wednesday’s game against Boston. Salvador has not skated since then.

“I would call him doubtful for Monday,” DeBoer said. “I think the extent of the injury was more than day to day for him and I don’t see him being ready for Monday.”

DeBoer said right wing David Clarkson “had a maintenance day today” and “should be fine” for Monday’s game.

DeBoer said Clarkson’s absence from practice today had nothing to do with the high stick to the face he took late in Friday’s game. Clarkson also took a left shoulder to the head from Zack Smith in the second period and fought Smith after that.

“He’s just a little banged up,” DeBoer said. “He was in a lot of battles last night."

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.